Printed circuit boards using surface mount technology have several advantages over prior printed circuit boards. In surface mount circuit boards, through holes for mounting devices to the board are completely eliminated. Instead, circuitry is packed close together, and the space usually required for through holes is utilized more efficiently. Accordingly, the boards can be smaller though carrying the same amount of circuitry, or more circuitry can be carried by the same sized board. Furthermore, the components mounted on the circuit boards can be smaller than those used on conventional printed circuit boards.
However, surface mount technology creates certain problems. Since the printed conductors and components must be located closer together than with other printed circuit boards, greater accuracy in the location of components and conductors on the boards is required. Furthermore, since wave soldering usually is not used, radiant heating in an oven or the like usually is used to heat the components and their leads so as to cause the preapplied solder paste to melt and attach the components to the board. The more demanding requirements of surface mount technology place greater demands on the structures and techniques for mounting components, visual indicators, etc. on the circuit boards.
Often it is necessary to mount visual indicators such as LEDs on a printed circuit board with the light elevated above the surface of the board and/or with the LED near to one edge of the board. Each of these requirements creates special problems in the mounting of the LEDs.
The mounting of circuit components on surface mount boards often is accomplished simply by cutting the electrical lead conductors of the devices bending the conductors to a proper shape, and then soldering them to the pads on to which the devices are to be mounted. This technique also has been used to mount LEDs on surface mount boards. However, the leads usually provided for LEDs tend to be too pliable and narrow to balance the LED on the circuit board until it is soldered. Furthermore, the conical dome shape of LEDs makes them incompatible with surface mount pick-and-place mechanisms.
Perhaps the greatest deficiency of the above mounting technique lies in the fact that conventional LEDs are not capable of withstanding the heat associated with solder reflow processes. Through-hole LEDs are constructed by embedding a lead frame in a castable epoxy. Such encapsulants are not structurally sound at solder reflow temperatures. The glass transition temperature for casting epoxies is far lower than the temperature of the soldering furnace. As the epoxy softens, the lead frame is allowed to move, causing the ultimate breakage of the wire bond. Manufacturers that have attempted to use conventional LEDs in surface mount processes have experienced unacceptable failure rates.
Conversely, LEDs designed for surface mounting are well suited for pick-and-place mechanisms, and they can successfully withstand solder temperatures. However, lacking a focusing lens, these miniature devices offer poor optical performance; low light intensity levels, light bleeding when several LEDs are mounted in close proximity, and the unavailability of right-angle viewable devices.